Barbosa top bull rider at Pala

Rubens Barbosa didn’t make the top 10 qualifiers of the weekend’s Professional Bull Riders Touring Pro Division at Palo Casino Spa & Resort, but the Brazilian bull rider still took home the big prize.

Barbosa was knocked out early from the final round, but when the 10 qualifiers all failed to stay atop a bull for the required eight seconds, Barbosa was hustled back into the arena to get the winning check of over $6,259. His 167.5 points on two qualifying rides from Saturday earned the native of San Palo, Brazil the title. Josh Moorer of Oneonta, Ala.,. was second and earned $4,471. And Travis Briscoe of Edgewood, N.M., was third and took home $2,682.

“I rode good enough on Saturday,” Barbosa said through an interpreter when asked if he was surprised to be the winner. He lives in Boise, Tx., now, just outside of Decauter. Barbosa scored 88 points on Curveball and 79.5 points on Lemon Drop Kid on Saturday.

Barbosa had to watch as 10 qualifiers, including Mike Lee, the 2004 world champion bull rider from Decauter, took their shots at the top money. Lee was one of a number of riders who flew in from Philadelphia’s Built Ford Tough event to compete at Pala.

“I didn’t fear them,” Barbosa said in typical cowboy bravado when asked about the guys who flew in from Philly. “They competed in a Built Ford Tough event, but this was my Built Ford Tough event right here. I’ve been with those top riders at that level, and I was very confident here.”

Amazingly, Lee rode six bulls on Sunday, but failed to, as the cowboys say, get ‘er done. He was the first rider to win Built Ford Tough World Finals and the Built Ford Tough Million Dollar World Championship in 2004, but on this day in the foothills of the Palomar Mountains, the dude was not good enough.

With Barbosa on the sidelines it staged up to be a duel between Lee and Travis Briscoe, but both cowboys were tossed from their nearly two tons of steer early and failed to stay atop for the required eight seconds to score.

This weekend marked the third time the Flying U Rodeo put on a bull-riding event in a pasture adjacent to Pala Casino Spa & Resort. Cotton Rosser started the Flying U Rodeo 55 years ago, and today, they stage events in as far away as England and Guam and even Alaska. It drew well here, and bull riding attracts a huge television audience, with more than 104 million viewers each year on the Versus Network, Fox, CBS, NBC and a host of international networks. It has over 500 hours of prime time programming. A million more or so attend the events to watch it live.

“It’s a labor of love,” said Reno Rosser, who is Cotton’s son and producer of the event. “We love animals. They’re like pets to us. We’re with them from the day they’re born to the day they’re gone. You don’t make a lot money, but you get to be around a lot of animals and a lot of fun people. We meet new people each week. Most of the time we can’t wait to see them, and they can’t wait to see us.”

One of the keys to bull riding’s success is that the Rossers provide a family atmosphere sprinkled with patriotism and love of country. The roots of this sport started with the country’s early pioneer days, the wild frontier. The Marines were a big presence here.

“Rodeo and bull riding appeal to everybody in the family,” Reno Rosser said. “You take kids to a baseball or football game or a NASCAR event, and they really don’t watch. You take them to rodeo, and they can’t take their eyes off the horses or the bulls. The thing we do is strive to put a lot of emphasis on entertainment. We’re in the entertainment capital of the world in California, and people lose their attention span after about two hours. When it slows down, they get up and go.”